


All Legends Start Small

by ericsonclan



Series: A Pirate's Life For Me AU [2]
Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirate, Brotp, Friendship, Gen, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:00:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23405677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ericsonclan/pseuds/ericsonclan
Summary: Louis has run off from home to start a new life and is looking for a crew to help man his ship. Little does he know he's about to meet a group of friends who will change his life forever...
Relationships: Louis & Violet (Walking Dead: Done Running)
Series: A Pirate's Life For Me AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1683673
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> (by Linnea)

Louis smiled as he stood at the front of the ship, his dreadlocks blowing in the wind as he stared at the town he called home.

“Well, Father, I’m helping you get one step closer to happiness.” His smile grew as he looked at the ship he had just stolen. It was a well-built ship, almost the size of a galleon. Its design was nothing special, just a plain brown ship save for the sails whose pale white hue contrasted against the rest of its body. His smile quickly disappeared, replaced by a frown. He knew that the letter he had left for Marlon wouldn’t be enough, that he had left his childhood friend in the dark, but he couldn’t stand his father anymore. The pressure of his rules felt suffocating.

_Sorry, Marlon. But if you went with me and we got caught, who knows what my father would do to you…_

It would be far worse than when the two had snuck off to the marketplace. A strong wind stopped his trail of thought as his shirt fluttered in the wind. The strings that criss-crossed it flew around, unable to stop.

“Well, I should probably go.” Louis said to himself before his face fell.

 _How am I supposed to man this ship by myself?_ He glanced around the ship, going through the motions of each job to sail the ship before letting out a sigh.

“Looks like I need to find a crew.” With that thought he jumped off his ship, stumbling as he landed. He figured the best place to find some sailors would be by the local tavern. Louis looked around the area with a look of puzzlement on his face. Where was the tavern? As he continued to look, he felt a heavy thud against his arm. Stumbling back, he looked over to see a blonde girl. Her appearance read as that of a street rat. She was small and her limbs thin. It was clear that life hadn’t been fair to her as she looked undernourished, her clothes in tatters and her body covered in dirt. Her hair covered her eyes as she looked away.

“Sorry. That was my bad.” He awkwardly scratched the back of his head, flashing a smile.

“It’s no big deal.” The girl whispered before sprinting off. Louis stared at her for a minute before noticing a trinket on the ground. Was it hers? He couldn’t just leave it there. Swiping up the item, he ran after her.

“Hey!” He yelled out to the girl. She glanced back, eyes widening as she ran faster.

“Hold on! You dropped something! I just want to return it!” He shouted, turning sharply on the corner that she had previously been at. His body froze when he saw the girl run out into the middle of the street a carriage was barreling down. Without hesitation he ran forward, pushing the girl out of the way before landing hard on the pavement. The girl let out a groan of pain as she turned to stand up.

“Are you okay?” He asked with concern. The girl glanced up, surprised at his question, but before she could answer the door to the carriage swung open.

“You filth need to stay out of the roads. You disturbed my carriage ride!” A plump man with a greasy mustached snapped as he glared at the two.

Louis stared at him with disbelief. “You almost killed her!” His eyes met the man’s.

The man let out a disgusted groan. “So what if a street rat died? Nothing would come of it. But to stop my carriage, that’s unforgivable.”

The girl glared at him and began to stand up.

“How can you say that?” Louis yelled at him, his voice filled with rage. “Her life is just as valuable as yours!”

The man bursted out laughing. “Her? Having the same worth as me? Please, a stray mutt is worth more than her.”

Louis felt his rage boil over as he leaned down, swiping up a rock before throwing it towards the man. It hit the side of the man’s head. A small trickle of blood fell as he stared at them in shock.

“I’ll have your heads for this!”

The girl grabbed Louis’ hand, pulling him along as she led the way, weaving through alleyways. It was a while before she stopped, the two doubling over as they tried to catch their breath.

“We should be safe for now.” The girl mumbled, glancing up at Louis who had leaned his head back, trying to regain the energy he had lost.

“Why did you do that?” Her question drew Louis’ attention. Her eyes studied his face.

“Because no one should be treated like that. He was an asshole.” The girl seemed shocked by that, her face softening as his answer registered with her.

“Oh!” Louis exclaimed before digging in his pocket and retrieving the trinket. “You dropped this.”

The girl snatched the item back, holding it close to herself and letting out a sigh of relief.

“Thank you. For saving me and for this.”

Louis gave a warm smile.

The two stood in silence for a minute.

“Here!” The girl threw a pouch over to Louis who stumbled slightly as he tried to catch it.

“What is this? Wait, it's my coin pouch!” Louis' face fell in shock.

“Yeah, sorry about that.” The girl scratched the back of her neck.

_It would’ve been a pain if I had to go back and take some more money from the house. But she gave it back before I even realized it was gone. She could’ve just run off with it and never crossed paths with me again._

“Got to do what you can to survive, huh?” Louis tossed his pouch up before catching it with a dramatic flair. “Wanna join my crew?”

The girl’s eyes widened in shock. “Are you serious?” Her eyebrow was raised.

“Yep.” He shot out his hand. “I’m Louis.”

The girl stared at it with hesitation before grasping it with her own.

“Violet.”

“So, what do you say?” His smile gleamed as he waited for her response with excitement.

“Meet me back here in a few hours. I’ll give my answer then.” Violet responded before running off.

“Okay. I’ll be right here!” Louis yelled out. He would just have to wait and see if her answer was yes.


	2. All Legends Start Small Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis waits for Violet's answer while she goes to talk to the other street rats.

Louis felt his nervousness rise as the realization hit him that he didn’t know where he was. Not only that, but Violet never said a specific time so who knew when she would show back up. He couldn’t stay that much longer in town before his father realized that something was up. He took a deep breath, letting the nerves leave his body. He would just have to hope that Violet would say yes.

Violet sprinted through the square, weaving her way through different alleyways before coming across the one she was looking for. With a sharp turn she entered it, stopping when she saw the others huddling in the corner that they called home.

“Where the hell were you?” Mitch grumbled. “Willy and Tenn were starting to get anxious.”

“I was trying to find a mark.” Violet replied with a shaky breath.

“Did you?”

“Yeah. But I gave his money back.” Violet looked away as she spoke.

Mitch stood up. “Why the fuck would you do that?”

“Shit. I don’t know. I just felt it was the right thing and-” her sentence was cut off as Mitch stormed over.

“The right thing doesn’t mean shit if it doesn’t get us food!”

“Louis saved my life!” Violet snapped back. “And even after I gave back his coin pouch, he didn’t hurt me. For some stupid fucking reason he offered me a spot on his crew.”

“His crew?” Mitch hissed.

“Like pirates?” Willy asked as he walked forward, Tenn slowly following behind.

“I don’t know what it means exactly, but I think we should take his offer.” Violet replied with her arms crossed.

“How can you say that? He may have saved your life, but that doesn’t mean you should just fucking trust him!” Mitch yelled.

“I’m not an idiot, Mitch.” Violet snapped back. “You think I would follow just any guy with a sketchy offer like this?” She took a step back before leaning against the wall. “There’s something different about Louis. The things he does make him seem like a dumbass, but he’s so genuine about it that you can tell he’s not a bad guy. Meet him and you’ll know that I’m right.” Her gaze fell back upon him.

“I don’t know.” Mitch mumbled.

“We don’t have much of a choice. We won’t survive on the streets, Mitch! Every year it gets worse and worse. It’s crazy that we’ve even made it this long. If we stay, we’ll fucking starve!” Violet glanced at the two younger street rats.

“I think we should meet him.” Tenn whispered.

“Me too!” Willy said. “I’ve never seen a pirate before.”

“There’s no way he’s a pirate. He looks more like a merchant.” Violet said before turning her attention to Mitch. He let out an annoyed sigh.

“Fine. But we’re going to be careful.”

Violet nodded. The four sat down, going over the plan in case something went wrong. After a couple hours they went back to the meeting location. Louis sat on a barrel kicking his legs before he noticed the street rats, his eyes widening before he gave a smile.

“Violet. I see you brought some friends.”

Violet nodded.

“I’m Willy!” Willy ran forward, dangling his arm out.

“Hey, buddy. The name’s Louis.” He gave a warm smile before shaking his hand.

“This here is Tenn.” Willy whacked Tenn’s back playfully as he gave a huge grin. Tenn gave a quiet smile and a small wave before fidgeting with his hands. Louis returned the smile, giving a small wave.

“So I take it you’re accepting my offer?” Louis asked as he looked up at Mitch and Violet.

“Not so fast!” Mitch replied. “We wanna see your ship first.”

“Okay.”

The group stood around waiting for Louis to direct them.

“I... umm... actually am lost, so do any of you know the way to the docks?”

Violet sighed before leading the way. After a couple minutes the group stood before the ship. Willy and Tenn stared in awe as they pointed at different parts of the ship, exclaiming that they’d never seen a ship so big.

Violet looked around, noticing that no one was on the deck.

“Where’s your crew?”

“Well, there’s me and then if you guys join in, that’ll make five.”

“So you have no crew.”

“Not yet! But just you wait and see. This ship will have the best crew in all the seven seas.” He gestured towards the ship with a dazzling smile.

“So, how about it? Wanna join my crew?”

Mitch and Violet excused themselves along with Tenn and Willy to discuss the deal.

“It seems to be okay.” Violet started before Willy jumped in.

“The ship is so cool!”

Mitch nodded, giving a small smile towards Willy. “It is pretty badass. Besides, I’m pretty sure if Louis turns out to be scummy we could take him. I think even Tenn could kick his ass.”

“So, we’re all in agreement?” Violet asked as she looked to the others. Willy and Mitch nodded, but Tenn hesitated.

“What about Sophie and Minnie? If they come back and we’re not here, how will they find us?” Tenn’s voice wavered slightly.

“Tenn...” Violet’s voice was gentle, but sad. “It’s been over 4 years. I… I don’t think they’re coming back.” Tenn’s eyes filled with tears before he nodded.

“Okay. Then let’s go.”

With that, the group turned back to Louis.

“We’re in.” Violet announced as she stood by her group.

Louis gave a huge smile before displaying the ship.

“Then welcome aboard!”

Louis quickly made his way up the deck and stood by the wheel. The street rats were right behind him, pausing as they stared at all the sails and ropes around them.

“Do you even know how to sail this thing?” Mitch questioned as he looked around.

“Sure I do.” Louis replied.

Violet eyed him, not buying his comment. Before Louis could reply, a loud bark rang across the dock. A pitbull ran forward, scampering onto the deck before tackling Louis and causing him to fall over. The dog proceeded to lick his face before a voice called out.

“Rosie! That’s enough!” A blonde boy climbed onto the deck of the ship. He seemed to be around nineteen. He stopped in front of Louis, a look of disapproval on his face. Louis avoided eye contact as he stood up.

“Hey, Marlon. I see you read the note.” Louis gave a nervous smile.

“No shit. What were you thinking?!?” Marlon stared at him with frustration.

“I just thought you’d get in more trouble if you came with me. Your life would be better at home.”

“How does that make any sense? It would be way worse with you gone! You realize that I’m basically just your glorified man servant. If you’re gone, what the fuck would I do? Honestly, sometimes you’re the world’s biggest dumbass.” Marlon took a deep breath. “How long have we known each other? More than ten years! So I’m going with you.”

Louis paused, looking away before replying. “Alright then.” He turned his attention back towards the others. “It’s time to set sail!”

“We don’t know how to do that.” Violet replied, her arms crossed.

“Don’t worry, with my instructions we’ll be out on the open seas before you know it!"

Little did Louis know how hard sailing a ship was as he and his crew struggled to get out of the port. It took some time, all of their efforts and a few swears, but the group eventually did make it out to sea. Louis quickly disappeared through a door before reappearing with something in his hand. He placed down a map, displaying it for all his crew to see.

“I hope you’re all ready! Because we’re about to go on the adventure of a lifetime!”


End file.
